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Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

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Esclerosis lateral amiotrófica

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Amyotrophe Lateralsklerose

Hardware for the mouse substitute

In case the operation of a standard computer mouse is not possible, the following other options are considered:

Eye control
Head mouse
Pushbutton (in the scanning process)
Trackball
Touchscreen

Eye control

An eye control, consisting of a camera and a software, records the positions and changes of the pupils. With this the software calculates the position of the eyes target on the computer screen and then leads the mouse cursor to the desired position. Hence, using an eye control the computer mouse can be emulated solely by eye movement. Mouse clicks are either triggered by blinking or by pausing in the desired position ("auto click"). Eye controls are rather expensive, but they often are the only chance of communication with the environment.



The eye control system being called "IG-30" of alea technologies (Germany).

Head mouse

A head mouse also consists of camera and software. The desired position of the cursor is - in contrast to an eye control - not be determined by the line of sight, but by the head position. This will often work with a reflection point, attached to the users forehead or nose. Thus, a head mouse records the movements of the head in order to control the cursor.

Pushbutton

A pushbutton can usually be triggered by any part of the body (e.g. hand, foot). In conjunction with a scanning software one is able to determine the vertical and horizontal target position by pressing the pushbutton twice.

The mouse button can be used as a pushbutton, too.



Pushbutton sample

touchscreen

A touch screen can be static or mobile (Tablet PC). It requires that the fingers and hand can be moved sufficiently.

In the case of uncontrolled muscle tremor the touch screen can be covered with a hole template, so that actions cannot be triggered accidentally.



Tablet PC / Touchscreen sample